


Pitch Black, Pale Blue

by a_salty_alto



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Akekita Week, Angst, Character Death, Drabble Collection, Fluff, M/M, Temporary Character Death, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:01:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27383860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_salty_alto/pseuds/a_salty_alto
Summary: Stitch by stitch I tear apartIf brokenness is a form of artI must be a poster child prodigy~Fills for Akekita Week 2020
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Kitagawa Yusuke
Comments: 7
Kudos: 15
Collections: Akekita Week





	1. Autumn

Other people in the park rush past, wrapped up in coats and scarves to protect them against the brisk autumn air, but Yusuke doesn’t heed them much thought. 

The park they’re in is only a short walk from the dorms, and is apparently famous for the way the trees look in the autumn. To Yusuke’s delight, the rumors are true. 

“Thank you for suggesting this place, Akechi, it really is gorgeous,” Yusuke says, attention focused solely on his sketchbook.

“Yes well, I thought we could use a change of pace.” Now that they were teammates as well as attending the same school, he’d more or less been drafted into posing for Yusuke. At the very least going off by themselves every so often like this lead to fewer suspicions when they left school together for Phantom Thieves’ business.

“Would you mind standing over by that tree?” Yusuke asks, shaking Goro from his thoughts.

“Alright.” He goes to the spot Yusuke has pointed out, and leans against it. Yusuke looks pleased with the positioning and turns his attention back to his sketchbook. 

At this point, Goro knows the rhythm of their outings and lets his mind wander.

“Do you think we can keep doing this afterwards?” Goro asks, aloud. Usually when Yusuke is hit with inspiration it takes the sound of a bullhorn to get his attention, but to Goro’s surprise, the scratching of pencil against paper stops.

Yusuke looks up at Goro. “You mean after we complete Niijima’s Palace and the Phantom Thieves are no more?”

“Um, yes. Exactly.” Goro says. “Sorry I didn’t expect you to hear that.”

Yusuke shrugs and goes back to his sketching. “I’d be very interested in continuing our sessions. I was simply under the impression you wouldn’t want anything to do with the Phantom Thieves after this.”

“Well, it wouldn’t be the Phantom Thieves, it’d be you.”

Again, Yusuke stops, and when Goro looks at him this time, it seems as though his cheeks are turning the same color as some of the leaves.

“Well, if you’re interested, just let me know.” Yusuke says.

Goro chuckles. “I’ll take you up on that offer.”


	2. Dark & Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He leans against what he thinks is a wall, only for it to give way. Yusuke reaches out before he can fall, but only manages to bring Akechi down with him.
> 
> Yusuke lands with Akechi on top of him, and there’s the sound of doors slamming shut. 

A pitch-black labyrinth is certainly one of the more interesting features of a Palace they’ve encountered. Yusuke is almost giddy at the thought of having to rely on his other senses to get by.

He can tell Ren is in front of him from the smell of coffee, hear the clicks of Ann’s heels. Yusuke’s hands start twitching, and he almost wants to pull out his sketchbook and draw to sketch a design or something when he feels someone bump into him.

“Excuse me.” 

Oh, it’s Akechi.

“It’s alright,” Yusuke says, waving him off, and moving more to the side. He leans against what he thinks is a wall, only for it to give way. Yusuke reaches out before he can fall, but only manages to bring Akechi down with him.

Yusuke lands with Akechi on top of him, and there’s the sound of doors slamming shut. 

“...why are you touching my face?” Akechi asks as Yusuke attempts to wriggle out from under him.

“So I don’t accidentally get my eye poked out by your mask,” Yusuke says.

Akechi sits up and gets off of him. There’s the sounds of footsteps and pushing against a door. “Shit. It’s locked.”

“That’s unfortunate. I suppose we’ll have to find another way through.”

“Seems so.” This time it’s Yusuke’s turn to feel Akechi reaching towards, him the detective moving his hands around Yusuke’s arm until he finds Yusuke’s hand then grabs it.

“Don’t want us getting separated,” Akechi says.

“Naturally.” Yusuke lets Akechi lead the way, holding tight onto his hand. They’re not as skilled at navigating in the dark as Ren, so they keep close to the walls. 

At one point, Yusuke hears footsteps and pulls Akechi back around a corner before he can walk right into one of the guards.

“Thanks,” Akechi mutters. They wait until they think the guard’s back is turned, and attack. 

Once they’ve defeated the shadows, Yusuke grabs Akechi’s hand and starts leading the way.

“Where are we going?” Akechi asks.

“There’s a door over here.”

“How can you tell?”

“Robin Hood’s bless attacks provided a lot of light, I managed to memorize the parts I could see.”

“In the middle of a fight?”

“I’m an artist,” Yusuke says, shrugging.

“Well, aren’t you full of surprises,” Akechi mutters.

“Thank you.”

Yusuke finds the door he saw and pushes on it, allowing them to stumble out of the dark maze and into the exit, where the others are standing in a group looking concerned.

“There you are!” Makoto says, rushing over to them. “What happened?”

“We got separated from the group, and then a door locked behind us,” Akechi explains. 

Ren gives them a look over, eyes lingering on their still firmly clenched hands. “Alright.”


	3. Healing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Goro’s heart stops the second Yusuke smacks against the wall of the storage room of Maruki’s Palace with a sickening crack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Temporary character death

Goro’s heart stops the second Yusuke smacks against the wall of the storage room of Maruki’s Palace with a sickening crack.

If it weren’t for Loki in the back of his mind reminding him to move, he’d have been next. Instead, Goro rolls out of the way of the shadow that jumped them shortly after they realized they’d been separated from the others. They wouldn’t even be in this stupid mess if they could’ve just left after securing the Treasure route, but Akira wanted Sumire to train some more while they looked for missing chests.

So now, Goro’s here, desperately trying to fend off this shadow and not look at the way Yusuke isn’t moving.

He dodges another swing of it’s… appendages and directs Loki to pierce it with a veil of darkness. The shadow lets out a wale before dissolving into nothingness. Goro whips around, finding Yusuke across the room and runs over to him.

“Fox,” Goro says, kneeling next to him. “C’mon wake up.”

Yusuke’s eyes are closed and he doesn’t make a sound. Goro tries to feel for a pulse but… his gauntlets make it harder so he can’t find anything.

Yusuke doesn’t look like he’s breathing, though and it’s not good to let someone stay… like this for too long, or it becomes permanent. Or at least, that’s what they assume, and why Akira makes it a rule to always revive someone as soon as the battle’s over. None of them are really keen on testing that theory. 

“Son of a-” Goro closes his eyes and reaches down inside of him, to that part of him that he thought he’d discarded. “Robin Hood. I need you.”

There’s a tug at the back of his mind, and Loki shimmers a little. 

“Robin Hood,  _ please, _ I don’t want to lose him,” Goro begs. Loki disappears fully this time, and Robin Hood appears in his place. Goro grins. “Robin Hood, Samerecarm!”

Yusuke is bathed in green light, and he jerks upward, his eyes flying open. “Wha- G- I mean, Crow. What happened?”

“You took a nasty hit,” Goro says, “you alright?”

“I think so,” Yusuke says. “Thank you.”

Goro gives Robin Hood a thankful look before the Persona disappears.


	4. Birds of a Feather

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For my next super late Akekita week entry, I present: A dumb mermaid AU

Goro stands on a large rock jutting out from the shore. No one else is around since this is one of Shido’s private beaches, but he can hear some people laughing not too far away.

“Good evening, Akechi.”

Goro turns to see Yusuke Kitagawa climbing up the rock to meet him. 

Goro crossed his arms and glares at him. “Let’s cut to the chase, shall we? What are you doing here?” Goro demands. 

Kitagawa tilts his head and brushes a strand of hair out of his face. “You insisted I come.”

“Not _here_ , I mean in Tokyo. I already told his Majesty I’m not interested in his offer.”

Kitagawa blinks at him. “I’m... not sure what you’re talking about.” 

“Are you really playing dumb?” Goro scoffs. “I can smell the ocean on you.”

“That might be because we’re beside the sea,” Kitagawa says, pointing.

Goro sighs. “Fine, then. We can do this the hard way.” He pulls Kitagawa forward and pushes the younger man off the rock and into the ocean. “Now, are you willing to talk?” Goro asks.

“I don’t know how to swim!” Kitagawa shouts, arms flailing.

Goro rolls his eyes. “Really? Then how do you explain that?” he says pointing at the yellow tail popping out of the water as Kitagawa thrashes about.

Kitagawa looks at it, and his eyes widen “ _Why do I have a tail?!”_

Suddenly, it occurs to Goro that Kitagawa might not have been playing dumb. “Ok, you have to stop that, before someone sees you.” Goro says. The beach is private but there are people who like to boat near here or might here all of the splashing. To bad Kitagawa doesn’t seem to be listening. Goro sighs and dives into the water himself. 

It’s been awhile since felt the sensation of his legs turning into a tail, and his first instinct is to go for a swim, but he keeps that under wraps. Instead he swims closer to Kitagawa and pulls him underwater.

Kitagawa yelps and starts thrashing harder.

“Stop that, you’ll catch someone’s attention,” Goro says. “And you don’t have to hold your breath,” he adds, noticing the way Kitagwa’s cheeks are puffed out and his face is scrunched up. Goro takes Kitagwa’s hands and brings them along the artist’s neck. “You have gills, you’ll be fine.”

Upon realizing he’s not, in fact, drowning, Kitagawa calms down rather quickly. Now that he’s not thrashing about, Goro takes a moment to look him over. His tail is yellow, and the scales actually reflect the light of the setting sun beautifully.

“I think you’re a foxface,” Goro says, absentmindedly.

“What does that mean?” 

“Your tail, it matches a foxface rabbitfish,” Goro explains. 

Kitagawa stares at him. “Would you please tell me what is going on?”

“Ah well. The short version is that you’re a mermaid and I’m a mermaid.”

“I gathered.”

“The long version is my grandfather is technically the king of the local merfolk and he’s been very insistent on my coming to live with him, and I thought someone my own age might have been his latest attempt to convince me.”

“How did you know I’m a mermaid?” Kitagawa asks. 

Not the question Goro would have asked, but he just shrugs. “Like I said, you reek of the ocean.”

“I do?” Kitagawa asks, tilting his head again and causing his hair to float around.

“Yeah, it’s well.” Goro pauses. “It’s difficult to explain, actually, but you’ll figure it out.” Goro starts to swim towards the shore.

“Wait! I don’t know how to swim, remember?” Kitagawa calls, and Goro turns around to see him awkwardly trying to float around.

“Oh, right.” Goro swims back over to Kitagawa and grabs his hand. Kitagawa’s a quick learner as it turns out and manages to reach the shore. Unfortunately, he’s not a fast enough learner to instantly know how to switch between his tail and his legs, so Goro has to pick him up, bridal style.

“So what do we do now?” Kitagawa asks.

“There’s an empty shack up ahead. I used to use it to dry off all the time.”

“No one will walk in?”

“Nope, my… benefactor owns it and he’s busy so we won’t be disturbed.”

“Alright.” 

Goro carries Kitagawa to the shack and leaves him on the couch before going to pulls ome towels out of a chest. He throws one to Kitagawa. “Here, you need to dry off before you can transform back.”

“You could turn back despite still being wet.”

“I’ve had time to practice.”

“Would you teach me?”

“What?”

“Well you obviously know what you’re doing and I don’t want to get caught off guard if someone spills a glass of water on me.”

“It’s only salt water you have to worry about.”

“See, exactly I didn’t know that! And since you’re responsible for this revelation, the least you can do is show me how to do this sort of thing.”

Goro sighs. “I guess you have a point. But only on one condition: you don’t tell your friends anything about this.”

Kitagawa pauses, then sticks out his hand. “Deal.”

Goro takes it happily. “Alright Kitagawa, why don’t we meet here again on Sunday and I can run you through the basics.”

“If we’re going to be spending more time together, you can call me Yusuke,” he says, finally finishing drying himself off. Yusuke stands up on his newly returned legs and takes a few cautious steps.

“Well, Yusuke, you can call me Goro, then. And may I walk you back to the train station?” Goro asks, offering his arm. 

Yusuke takes it. “Thank you, Goro.”

“Not a problem.” Goro smiles. Maybe teaching Yusuke won’t be so bad.


	5. Shield

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Good morning did someone ask for angst? Because here is the angst (^_^)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Major character death

It happens in snapshot.

Moments. 

Frames in time that don’t feel real, don’t feel connected.

He’s confronting the Phantom Thieves in Shido’s ship and then Yusuke. 

Yusuke chooses him. 

Yusuke stands with Goro against the Phantom Thieves and something in Goro’s chest twists. He’d replayed the moment where he finally defeated the Phantom Thieves in his mind for months, and every time, he didn’t even question that he’d have to go through Yusuke.

Goro’s never been happier to be wrong.

The next snapshot, he and Yusuke are side by side. 

Yusuke’s tired, he’s attacking recklessly, hurting himself along the way, and Goro tells him to stand down. They share a look and in a brief moment have a whole argument, understanding each other’s thoughts like old times. Yusuke steps back.

Third snapshot, Goro is being worn down. The Phantom Thieves are more than happy to focus on him, and Goro’s starting to think he can’t hold them off.

Fourth snapshot, Takamaki sends a fireball his way, and Goro thinks  _ this is it _ , he lost and he doesn’t know how to feel about it.

Fifth snapshot, Yusuke is in front of him.

Everything slows down.

Goro’s kneeling next to Yusuke on the ground, Yusuke’s breathing is shallow. Sakura says something and one of the Phantom Thieves takes a step towards them and Goro does…  _ something _ that makes Loki push them all away. He carries Yusuke in his arms.

Yusuke mutters something in Goro’s arms as they return to the real world. The burns are still there, even starker against his white shirt, and Goro fumbles for his phone to call an ambulance.

Yusuke’s saying something again but Goro can’t hear. The silence is swallowing him up, and smothers him as the EMT’s arrive, as he holds Yusuke’s hand, as Yusuke stops breathing.

The Phantom Thieves see Goro in the train station.

“Where’s Yusuke?” Sakamoto asks.

“Where do you think.” Goro replies bluntly. He doesn’t look at them, but he hears Takamaki gasp. 

Good.

He hopes it hurts her. He hopes the thoughts eat away at her. He hopes she thinks about Yusuke and feels a knife in her gut as the guilt weighs down on her.

Because then someone will feel what he feels.


End file.
